Almost 80% of Americans suffer a tension or stress headache, and almost 3% of these are chronic cases. Stress headaches can be daunting, they can make you irritable, make your work suffer, and generally affect the quality of your life. For most people, the immediate response to tension headaches is popping pain-relieving medicines. But there is another way of treating these headaches without going through the side effects of painkillers, especially for people with kidney or liver disorders, pregnancy, or asthma. This is the traditional Chinese practice called acupressure where the pain and fatigue are reduced by applying steady controlled pressure at specific points, to get specific results.
Most causes of tension or pressure headaches happen to be related to lifestyle. A lot of the tension headaches have to do with our fast-paced lifestyle where a healthy routine takes a backseat. If you are not consuming wholesome meals on time at the right frequency; if you are not sleeping well or enough; if you are not engaging in some mind-body practices for relaxation; if you are perpetually under pressure to deliver at work, you are already prone to having recurring episodes of tension headaches. More often than not, a persistent tension headache is a sign that you need to take a break.
An imbalance of vata and pitta doshas can also reflect as tension headaches. When that happens, making specific dietary changes, lifestyle additions and course corrections can bring the doshas in balance. Here’s how you can correct vata dosha.
Some of the other causes that can lead to tension headaches may be digestive problems, constipation, flatulence, eye strain and not answering natural urges as and when required.
Pressure points to relieve tension headaches
It is believed that a headache is caused when the flow of life energy or prana or chi through various meridians in the body is obstructed at specific points, due to stress, stiffness, mental anxiety, and living a life misaligned with nature. Once these blocks are removed, the energy starts flowing effortlessly, relieving the pains and aches, and restoring the balance of prana.
You can massage specific points, as we list them below, with a wholesome essential oil blend like Shankara’s Muscle Release Oil, which is made with powerful ingredients designed to help soothe inflamed muscles and joints. The oil positively supports the natural healing properties of the body.
Massage and steadily press the point between the eyebrows also called the point of the third eye, moving your fingers in a circular motion. You can do this while taking long deep breaths.
This is the arc between the base of the thumb and your index finger. Keep pressing this region while taking long deep breaths with all your awareness at this point. Applying pressure on this point also helps relieve anxiety.
Here, you press the two end-points of the eyebrows towards the nose bridge, while sipping deep breaths.
This point is located right below the skull, in the well region between both the spinal bones. This point pertains to blood circulation and when there is a blockage here, you feel stiffness and tightness in the head. While you are pressing this point with the index finger and thumb, do hold the skull with the other hand.
This point is to help you get rid off of the stiffness in your shoulders from sitting in front of the desk for too long. The prana gets blocked here due to excessive stress. Stiffness in this region tends to make you irritable and impatient. To relieve pressure from this region, you can press the point that is located in the mid-point from rotator cuff and vertebrae column on the shoulder. Applying pressure here can help you reduce neck pain, tension in the shoulders, and stiffness from the region.
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